Ceremony marks Perrin becoming sixth president of LCU

Perrin inaugurated as 6th LCU president

Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin speaks during his inauguration at the Rip Griffin Center Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin speaks during his inauguration at the Rip Griffin Center Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Southern Methodist University President Gerald Turner speaks during the inauguration of Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin at the Rip Griffin Center Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. Turner graduated LCU in 1966. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Lubbock Christian University President L. Timothy Perrin is officially announced as the LCU president with a medal given to him by LCU Board of Trustees Chairman Jerry Harris during his inauguration Thursday at the Rip Griffin Center.

U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer congratulates Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin and LCU during Perrin's inauguration at the Rip Griffin Center Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

People gather in the Rip Griffin Center for the inauguration of Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Lubbock Christian University President L. Timothy Perrin listens Thursday as members of the LCU community officially welcome him to the university during his inauguration at the Rip Griffin Center. Perrin is the sixth president for LCU since 1957.

Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin, left, accepts a bible from Dean Evertt Huffard, Harding University, during Perrin's inauguration at the Rip Griffin Center Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. The bible was given to Huffard during his graduation from LCU. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

The Lubbock Christian University Symphonic Band performs in the Rip Griffin Center for the inauguration of Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Provost Rod Blackwood carries the school mace into the Rip Griffin Center during the inauguration of Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Flags fly outside the Rip Griffin Center before the inauguration of Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Lubbock Christian staff members April Stephenson and Rhonda Shooter participate with singing during the inauguration of Lubbock Christian President L. Timothy Perrin at the Rip Griffin Center Thursday. This is the sixth president for LCU since 1957. ( Stephen Spillman/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

In his youth, Lubbock Christian University President Tim Perrin could stroll the LCU grounds and earnestly say, “I can see my house from here.”

He grew up across the street from the college where his parents, Les and Elaine Perrin, taught.

Young Perrin graduated from LCU in 1984.

The school named him president on June 1 this year. On Thursday, Perrin officially took the reigns as LCU’s sixth president during an inauguration ceremony at the Rip Griffin Center before a crowd of about 1,000 people.

“When you were here, Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album was a big hit,” LCU Inter-Council Club President Victoria Richards said as she presented greetings from the students. “Now, I can enjoy that same mp3 file as a great classic.”

The audience responded with laughter, but Richards’ comment ironically touched on a topic both Perrin and keynote speaker SMU President Dr. Gerald Turner touched on later: Just as technology tastes in music and have changed since Perrin’s graduation, Christian-oriented universities are facing more obstacles today than they were three decades ago.

“Young people today have much bigger challenges. They have way more world view challenges than we had, and they need to be educated for it,” Turner said. “Institutions such as LCU that are closely tied in to the religious areas are becoming a decreasing commodity. But a need for them in this world has never been greater.

“Christians are culturally and physically under attack. Therefore it’s important that Christian colleges and universities educate our students to deal with the intellectual, philosophical and cultural changes of this era.”

He also laid out a number of challenges the president will face, including the development of stronger business, social science, humanities and basic science programs.

Perrin received standing ovations before and after the inauguration ceremony.

“One was too much. Two was entirely too excessive,” Perrin said with a grin.

Perrin referenced the theologian Tertullian, who asked, “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church?”

“For those of us in faith-based education, this question must be answered each and every day,” Perrin said. “We must live the question.”

Perrin said the university will remain true to its foundation of “truth and the person and life of Jesus” and will strengthen its commitment to a “heritage of faith.”

However, Perrin added, LCU will “embrace all 2,000 of our students” and serve as a force for reconciliation.

“Though they come from many different ages and backgrounds, each one is a precious child of God,” Perrin said. “The students come first. We want them to find wonder in creation. We want to guide the students ... We week to touch their mind, heart and soul.

“We want the kind of community where serious questions about our most strongly held beliefs can be asked … and where people can disagree without getting into fights”

He noted that the university is working to get students more engaged in the world around them, and emphasized the importance of a family-like sense of connectiveness within the LCU family.

“There will be challenges ahead … There are challenges,” Perrin said. “What I’m saying here, is when I close my eyes, in my imagination, I see a future as great as the one we serve. And I pledge to you my best efforts to make that dream a reality, to the glory of our God.”